Thursday, November 24, 2011

Farmers' market.

At home, in our real lives, we spend a lot of time at farmers' markets selling our wares.

We spend gazillions of hours picking and washing and packing our gorgeous organic produce into the trailer, driving to market, setting up enticing, visually exciting displays and then chatting and selling and buying and enjoying the market thing.

We love farmers' markets. We love the direct connection between farmer and consumer, the freshness of the produce, the integrity of the produce and mostly the best prices.

In all the best cases a farmers' market is like a festival of the farmer and of great food. We love that!

On this road trip, finding fresh, homegrown produce has been a priority. Buying from the stupid market goes against everything we stand for. Buying products with an essay as it's list of ingredients has not filled us with optimism or joy.

So it is with delight and excitement that we hunt down and visit farmer's markets when ever we see them along the way. It is a thrill to buy fresh and chat to the producer, and it has been wonderful to check out the displays, the different products and be inspired to go home and revamp our market setup.

Margaret River farmers' market was the best we've found so far on the west coast.

Farmer Bren went a bit berserk and had to go back to the car to unload his back pack a couple of times.

There were wonderful, colourful displays.

Lots of bunting.

Cute chookies.

Crowds.

Buskers.

Giant vegetables.

Gorgeous signage.

Clean veggies. (I know I am an organic farmer but I get really irritated by clumps of dirt on vegetables at market. Why not be proud and show off your gorgeous veg?!)

Lots of organic produce. (Well we had to assume it was organic because unlike the markets on the East coast, these markets have not been accredited and who really knows what organic means.)

And lots of treats.

For us it was like coming out of the desert into an oasis.

Yum!!

But I guess the real heart behind this post is Margaret River. The real reason behind my sitting outside the caravan this morning flicking through my photos is the bushfire that is raging and threatening and devastating the part of the south west coast that we have just spent a month in and loved.

We know well the names of the towns on the news.

We are hoping for it to be all over very, very soon.

Our thoughts are with you Margaret River. We know how terrifying bush fires are.

18 comments:

I spy a very interesting bike tyre. Ans so much lovely produce -mmmm!Yes thinking about Margaret River too. But also very grateful for the volunteer rural brigade who did some back burning close to us recently.

Hello Kate :-) you are travelling in the area i really really love....oh pemberton, denmark.... looks like you found a piece of home in margaret river....though your carrots are way prettier :-) happy travelling,...ive been travelling along with you...envious of your freedom much of the way ;-)manda x

I too thought of you and your family and all the beautiful places you've recently left behind. I spent a great deal of my childhood in Margaret River and lived in Gracetown for a while. It is absolutely heartbreaking.

Bushfires are terrifying. I have opted out of listening to ANY news over the last year. We have lived through a tragedy beyond compare - my brother lost 2 of his babies- and watching or listening to ANY kind of news is just too confronting. Thinking about the Vic bushfires here a couple of years ago, now with my terrible experience just gives me shivers to think of how the loss of one person in terrible circumstances affects SOOOOO many people- but bushfires sometimes wipe out entire families. It is too much to think about.So terrible. And for you- having witnessed the beauty and natural wonder of those places and having made connections to them....it is heartbreaking to think of them in danger. On a positive note....Farmers markets and the communities that have stalls at them & the people that frequent them as customers....well that is the sort of environment that can restore one's faith in humanity! So much goodness. In so many ways. Nutrients for the heart, soul & belly.And it is these same qualities that if bushfires destroyed them that the spirit of these people will restore them too. Let's just hope they don't get tested. xx

Lovely post Kate, and I so agree that just because veg is organic it doesn't need to be filthy.

There are compensations to living in the damp, green UK that we so easily overlook. Not least of which is that really extreme weather events and disasters like bushfires generally happen to other people. My sympathies from afar to all affected in however small a way by the current bushfires.

It has been a scary day here in Margs, and news is starting to filter in about which families have lost their homes. Some never had the chance to grab precious items because they were at work or school when the evacuations started.

Must be an eerie feeling for you to have connected with a place then see it on the news going through such awful fires.Kate you've inspired me to go visit one of our growers markets on the weekend. Just because I live in the city doesn't mean I have to shop in the stupid market (love that expression - will be adopting it ;-) but somehow I seem to forget that.

I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.